Despite a hostile reception from state-subsidised media when Netflix launched in France four years ago, it has gained 3.5 million subscribers

The Netflix logo on an iPhone in Philadelphia on Monday, July 17, 2017. France's three biggest broadcasters have set aside their rivalry to form an alliance to take on the US colossus with encouragement from the government.Matt Rourke / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

France has long defended its exception culturelle with subsidies and tax breaks to protect French films, music and television from the ravages of a market economy. Now it is arming itself to fight the digital dominance of Netflix, the pounds 100 billion American film and television streaming service.

France’s three biggest broadcasters have set aside their rivalry to form an alliance to take on the US colossus with encouragement from the government.

France Televisions, the state-owned public service network, is joining forces with the main private network, TF1, and M6, the country’s most profitable private channel.

Together they will next year launch a subscription service called Salto, offering a back catalogue of French TV shows and original content.

This is a show made by France Televisions, it's hugely successful, made for a French audience, but to watch it online, you've got to go to Netflix. That's why France needs its own service. Better late than never

“The time has finally come to rebel against the Americans, Netflix and also Google, Amazon and Apple,” the weekly news magazine L’Express said.

Despite a hostile reception from state-subsidised media when Netflix launched in France four years ago, it has gained 3.5 million subscribers.

Salto’s initial pounds 45 million budget is dwarfed by the pounds 6 billion Netflix is spending on content this year. Some French commentators say the project is too little, too late, but others argue that France needs it.

Maxime Gueny, a media journalist, said: “Salto can work provided it doesn’t position itself as a competitor but rather as an alternative to Netflix, to sit alongside it.”

Mr Gueny said the service could win French viewers as Netflix has done with series such as Call My Agent!, a drama about Paris talent agents representing French stars, including Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Adjani.

“This is a show made by France Televisions, it’s hugely successful, made for a French audience, but to watch it online, you’ve got to go to Netflix. That’s why France needs its own service. Better late than never.”

Netflix is also trying to attract French audiences with original content. Its locally-produced series Marseille, starring Gerard Depardieu as a cocaine-snorting mayor, is a drama of political intrigue and corruption. Even the gift of a Hollywood-style Marseille sign for the city was not enough to save Netflix from being banned from the Cannes Festival, which ruled that its films could only compete if they had first been shown in French cinemas. The decision followed vehement protests by filmmakers and unions.

Florent Peiffer, the founder of a live digital production company, said: “It’s difficult to see the broadcasters working with each other to make a lot of new programmes. What makes Netflix strong is original content.”

Salto will also have to clear another hurdle: approval from Brussels that it does not breach EU competition rules.